The Night in the Alley

"The death Seoyeon remembers and the death written in the work have to match. Remembering the very beginning and the end of your life is what proves you belong to that story."

"And if I don't? Or if my memory doesn't line up with it…."

"I raise your Hoe-Bing-Hwan odds using the work's synopsis, your Life Record, and your own story. The wider the gap between what you remember and what actually happened, the greater the risk of the work rejecting you. The story itself will decide you're a character who doesn't belong there—and it won't let you in."

Seoyeon sank into thought, as if the whole thing hadn't quite sunk in yet.

Sohee clenched her teeth at the苛刻 conditions all over again. Well, of course Hoe-Bing-Hwan wasn't supposed to come easy. For someone below even a proper supporting character—not a protagonist, just a side role—being handed such brutal requirements was neither incomprehensible nor entirely unfair.

From the other side's perspective, it must be a pain in the neck, honestly.

They understood and accepted it because they were powerless. That didn't mean their feelings went along with it. She'd been worn down and infuriated by these hoops so many times before.

Seoyeon asked carefully.

"The Life Record… doesn't it say where I died?"

"A Life Record only goes up to your last memory. Most people call that their death."

"I… honestly don't know. What's what, or…."

Sohee understood her heart completely. It was alien territory, and of course it would be confusing. She looked calmly into Seoyeon's eyes and continued her explanation.

"If you really did die in that alley, and only your body went missing afterward, then there's no problem. Your last memory and your death line up."

"I see."

"The problem is if you lost consciousness, were taken somewhere, and died later. In that case, your odds of success drop dramatically—because the death you remember and the moment the Seoyeon of the story truly died wouldn't be the same."

Seoyeon's face darkened sharply. Sohee gently took her hand.

"It's not that you'd be rejected no matter what. It's simply a battle of probabilities. That's why we check and recheck every piece of information we're given—just to find even the smallest clue."

Seoyeon gave a small nod. Supporting-character Hoe-Bing-Hwan was already hard enough, and it galled her that the measuring stick seemed to be raised higher for her alone, unjustly so.

"That's why I… need to hear as much of your story as I possibly can."

Sohee lowered her eyes.

She was asking this girl to walk back through that terrible time, moment by moment.

"I never once went that way at night…."

Sohee lifted her head. Seoyeon met her gaze with a face that looked ready to crumble at any second. And then, slowly, she was dragged back into that day—sucked down like into a swamp, into that night of joy and torment.

You know how it is—how older people always say it happened as if something possessed you? That day, strange things just kept lining up to push me into that alley.

I was busy, but my brother insisted on coming to pick me up, so I told him I'd walk since it was close, and hung up. He's a police officer, and he'd barely squeezed out time for it because of a case lately. He wanted the whole family to have dinner together tonight.

On the way there, rain suddenly came pouring down, so I ducked into the convenience store right next to me thinking I'd buy an umbrella—and then it hit me: the stack of disposable umbrellas I'd piled up in the umbrella stand at home.

You know how it is, right? I knew, but I thought buying another one would be a waste… so I just walked back out. The rain had let up a little, and home wasn't far anyway.

I hurried along, stopped for a moment at the fork in the road. It couldn't have been more than two or three seconds of hesitation, and then I turned into that alley. To save time.

It wasn't somewhere I'd never been—I'd gone through it plenty of times in daylight. Plenty of people passed through there, so I wasn't really worried.

The problem was that that day, for some reason, there was no one around at all—and I had no idea the streetlights went dark, one after another, through the middle of it at night.

Between the sound of the hammering rain, all I could hear was my own footsteps slapping the pavement. Splash, splash… I was walking faster and faster, anxiety coiling in my chest.

Fweeee—

That was when I heard it. I forced myself to brush it off as the wind and hurry on, but then it came again—fweee! That whistle… it felt like it was calling out to me. Exactly me.

Goosebumps rippled across my whole body. I froze solid, forgetting for a moment that rain was hammering down on my head. My lips trembled, and it felt like the blood was draining right out of my soaked body.

I was terrified. So I turned to get out of the alley—and someone was standing there.

I screamed before I could stop myself, and the man kept coming closer, closer… and my heart pounded out of control. I couldn't bring myself to look him in the face. I just stood there shaking, staring at the ground.

One step, two steps… even as he came slowly toward me, I couldn't move a muscle. It was like my feet had grown roots into the pavement.

But then the man just… slipped past me. Only when his footsteps faded did the breath shudder out of me. I didn't dare look back. All I could think was—keep going, forward, just go.

That was when it happened. That was when the man called out to me.

Did I turn around? No. I bolted forward like a madwoman. You're wondering—maybe he'd dropped something, maybe he had some important reason? No. That man called my name. My name.

As I tore down that alley in a blind panic, only one thought surfaced in my head.

Oppa… oppa! Lee Seojun!

He's a cop—he'd fix everything. Call me if anything happens. He used to say it like a habit, over and over.

And not long after, a hand seized my hair and yanked me backward. We struggled, and the necklace my parents gave me fell to the ground… and then his hand was clamped over my mouth, and—

Seoyeon let out a long, deep breath. She'd tried to stay composed, but goosebumps stood along her forearms. She slowly loosened the fist she'd been clenching without realizing it, and looked at Sohee.

"That's where my memory ends. I don't know how much time passed, but when I opened my eyes, I was standing before a Messenger. I came here following him."

"I see."

Sohee nodded, hiding her disappointment. The truth was, Seoyeon's story told her nothing more specific about her death.

"Please answer me honestly."

Sohee, her thoughts deepening, lifted her head at the sudden firmness in Seoyeon's voice. The girl's eyes had hardened, as if she were steeling herself.

"Can't I do it? Regression—can't I?"

"…."

Sohee held her gaze for a moment before answering.

"I'm afraid it won't be easy."

Seoyeon bit down hard on her lip. For a place that specialized in Hoe-Bing-Hwan to say it wouldn't be easy meant the odds of success were truly razor-thin.

Sohee buried her conflicted feelings and deliberately lifted her voice, making it lighter.

"But you can wait out the week we promised, can't you?"

Seoyeon looked at her, puzzled. What was the point of passing the time without knowing how the Seoyeon of the novel truly died?

"I'll look into whether there's another way."

"…Okay."

Seoyeon simply nodded. "I'll look into it" was the kind of thing you said when nothing actually came to mind. It was the moment she decided not to hope for anything more—and then Sohee took both her hands.

"It isn't over yet."

"…."

"You know, don't you? It's only regret-free when you give it everything you've got until the very end."

She knew it all too well. It was exactly why she was determined to return to that hell of college entrance exams, no matter what.

When Seoyeon's expression softened a little, Sohee smiled.

"I'm that way myself. I won't be satisfied unless I've tried everything there is to try."

She rose from her seat.

You'll be fine. Rest easy. It'll work, guaranteed. Those were words she couldn't offer. Hope was nothing but useless fantasy dressed up as comfort—and she didn't even want to imagine how crushing it would be to let yourself hope, only to slam into the wall of reality in the end.

Sohee clenched her fist, then released it.

"One week. I'll give it everything I have. So please, just stay here for the week you've been given."

When Seoyeon nodded vaguely, twice, Sohee smiled. But as she turned and stepped out of the room, her face hardened like stone.

"Don't waste the trip. You're better off not expecting anythi—ng."

Still turning over the new guest's story, Sohee decided to try the Records Management Bureau.

That place held the beginning and end of every written word, updating in real time all the stories that passed into and out of existence through Hoe-Bing-Hwan—the literal repository of everything ever recorded.

"You never know. They might just hear me out."

"You know that's insane, right? There's no miracle coming that makes them hand over classified information."

"Yes, yes, I know. I know, and I'm going anyway. I'll try anything."

Sohee stepped straight outside and threw herself onto her bicycle.

When she died, and where. That's all I need to find out.

She had just set her foot on the pedal and pushed off the ground when—

"Ms. Sohee!"

"Just a moment."

Riri and Kuku appeared through the motel's front door.

"What is it?"

"Take these with you. I think they'll help."

"Huh?"